Highway 1 shooting suspect arrested in Mendocino National Forest

A Mendocino County man suspected of shooting his ex-girlfriend on Highway 1 near Little River Sunday has been arrested, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported.

MCSO Lt. Shannon Barney confirmed that Andrew Crowningshield, 27, of Little River, was arrested around 7 a.m. Feb. 5 after being found by Glenn County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

“(MCSO) detectives are on their way there to interview him,” Barney said Monday morning of Crowningshield, whom he expected to be charged with homicide and attempted homicide.

Barney said deputies were dispatched to the scene of a shooting shortly after 9 a.m. Feb. 4 and found a “mortally wounded” woman lying in a pullout along Hwy 1 “between the Heritage House and Little River.”

Barney said the woman was identified as Autumn Smith, 22, of Fort Bragg, who was also known as Autumn Johnson. She had been in a relationship with Crowningshield in the past and the pair had a child together that Barney said was under five years old.

“We originally heard the child might have been involved, but now we know he wasn’t,” Barney said of the shooting, which he said reportedly occurred after Smith was driving with a friend southbound on Hwy 1 near Caspar when she saw Crowningshield driving his Ford 350 pick-up truck.

According to Smith’s friend, identified as Daniel Alonso, 35, of Fort Bragg, Crowningshield began following their vehicle and Smith pulled over in the 6000 block of the highway south of Little River to talk to him. Crowningshield reportedly stopped his truck as well, and Smith approached his vehicle to talk to him about when she could pick up their child.

Alonso told deputies that Crowningshield shot several rounds at Smith and she fell to the ground, and he believes the suspect fired at him as well while he sat in Smith’s vehicle. Alonso then drove off in Smith’s vehicle to a local business where he called 911.

Barney said a “Be On The Lookout” alert was released after the shooting for Crowningshield, whom Barney said was believed to be heading toward Lake Pillsbury through the Mendocino National Forest. And it was in the forest, near the town of Elk Creek, where he was located by Glenn County law enforcement and taken into custody.

Barney said Monday he was did not have details of Crowningshield’s criminal history or past dealings with county law enforcement.

He said Croningshield is being held without bail.

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Barney and the MCSO expressed gratitude to all the callers who reported seeing Crowningshield and aided in his arrest.